W. volleyball wins big game, gets help

Yale and Princeton are usually rivals. This weekend however, the members of the women's volleyball team were Yale's biggest fans.

The Tigers, who entered the season as the favorites in the Ivy League, lost control of their destiny last weekend when they lost to Cornell. As a result, the Big Red and Harvard remained tied at top of the conference standings, while Princeton and Yale lagged a game-and-a-half back.

This put the Tigers in a dicey position. Not only did they have to win their final three games, they also had to count on Cornell dropping a game down the stretch. Chances looked bleak since Cornell had only two games left going into this weekned.

But the volleyball gods were in the Orange and Black's corner.

After the dust settled, Cornell and Harvard had clinched a share of the Ivy League title with 10-4 league records — they are done with their league schedules. Princeton and Yale put themselves in position to tie the Big Red and Crimson by sweeping their matches this weekend. Both the Tigers and Elis stand at 9-4 in the league, and both control their own destiny in the hunt for the crown. Princeton hosts Penn on Wednesday night while Yale takes on Brown.

Princeton took care of business on the road on Friday night in knocking off the Crimson, 3-1. They then moved to Dartmouth, where they squeaked out a 3-2 victory.

Meanwhile, the Elis went to Cornell and handed the Big Red a crushing, 3-0 loss.

Against the Crimson, Princeton got off to a characteristically slow start, dropping the first game 30-23. Also according to cue, it came back strong in the second game, using excellent blocking and great defense to even things up, 30-27.

Things only got sweeter from there for Princeton, as they closed out the match with 30-23 and 30-21 wins in games three and four respectively.

Leading a balanced attack was junior outside hitter Lauren Grumet, who provided a team-high 22 kills. Sophomore libero Jenny McReynolds held thing together on defense, recording 30 digs. Junior setter Jenny Senske paced the offense with 57 assists.

The next night against Dartmouth proved to be more difficult than many thought, as the Tigers fought to avoid an upset, while the Big Green was determined to play the role of spoiler.

In the back-and-forth match, Princeton came out strong in the beginning, taking the first game 30-26. Dartmouth then hit back in the second round, evening things at 1-1 with a 30-25 victory.

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The two teams exchanged wins in the next two games, as the Tigers destroyed the Big Green in the third, 30-20. Unable to put the game away, Princeton watched as Dartmouth stole the fourth, 30-25.

It all came down to the fifth game. Not just this match, but the entire season hung in the balance for Princeton, who knew full-well that a loss would eliminate them from title contention.

Despite the pressure-packed situation, the Tigers found an inner toughness in the fifth game, trouncing the Big Green 15-7 to clinch the match.

"We were so pumped and ready to play," McReynolds said. "We knew that the future of our season was on the line this weekend."

The success this weekend means that just as last year, Princeton's fate will be decided by the season-ending game against Penn.

"We have had so many chances to pull ahead and be in first place fair and square — but now is our last chance to prove that we are Ivy League champions," McReynolds said.